Top 10 Stories Of 2013: Big East Gone, New American Athletic Landscape For UConn

UConn was a flagship member of the Big East Conference that was born in 1979, evolving into one of the marquee schools in one of the marquee college basketball leagues in the country.

But 2013 marked the end of the conference and sent UConn's athletic programs to a new home. The Big East name was retained by seven non-football Catholic school — at a cost of more than $100 million — and the remaining football schools entered a new era.

The American Athletic Conference debuted with UConn, Cincinnati and South Florida as the Big East holdovers. Louisville (bound for the Atlantic Coast Conference) and Rutgers (heading to the Big Ten) were American members for the 2013-14 academic year.

The new conference added Central Florida, Houston, Southern Methodist and Temple, a Big East football member in 2012, in all sports. Tulsa, East Carolina, Tulane and Navy (in football only) are future members.

For UConn, the change in league affiliation marked the passing of a glorious era. The Big East reigned as a basketball conference, providing a stout regular season schedule and gathering some of the best programs in the country at Madison Square Garden for its annual tournament.

The UConn men, under Jim Calhoun, became a national brand under the Big East umbrella, winning NCAA title in 1999, 2004 and 2011. Geno Auriemma's women's program emerged from the Big East as an elite program with eight national titles and a reputation that reached far beyond its conference affiliation.

The new conference offers the men's program a competitive home. Memphis and Cincinnati are respected basketball programs, Temple is historically competitive and Central Florida, SMU and Houston are viewed as programs with potential.

Auriemma's program is unaffected by affiliation, operating as a national entity in both recruiting and non-conference scheduling.

But the perennial trips to Madison Square Garden are over for the men, who will play their conference tournament in Memphis in 2014. The women's tournament, after residing in Hartford, has been moved to the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville.

Meanwhile, UConn's football program, which was 3-9 this season, will compete in somewhat of an unknown conference. Losing national power Louisville and regional rival Rutgers changes the landscape.

As the dust settles from the old Big East, former league rivals are scattered. Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Boston College, Virginia Tech and Miami live in the ACC, while West Virginia is in the Big 12.

There was the thought that UConn would beat out Louisville for a spot in the ACC, but that did not happen. Thus it is the AAC for UConn for now, though conference realignment could shake things up again at some point.

"We don't have to be the Big Ten or the SEC," said AAC commissioner Mike Aresco, a Middletown native. "We never said we were. We just want to be competitive and play at that level. … UConn and Cincinnati have been very committed. At UConn, Susan [Herbst] and Warde [Manuel] have been leaders, very committed to what we're trying to accomplish."